Out of a total of 7,568 employees in the Detroit Post Office, only 105 are Jewish. The Jewish News, local weekly, disclosed today. The figures are based on data revealed in the official organ of the organization of postal employees which tabulated the Post Office personnel by racial and ethnic groups.
Philip Slomovitz, editor of The Jewish News, noted that the number of Jewish workers in the Post Office is out of proportion to the ratio of the Jewish population here. Jews in Detroit, he said, constitute about four per cent of the total population. He declared that, in 1937, there were approximately 250 Jews in the local postal service
“Is it possible,” he asked, “that the proper climate does not exist in the Post Office to make it sufficiently inviting for Jewish applicants?” Mr. Slomovitz expressed the opinion that “a study should be made of employment possibilities for Jews, the reasons for so small a percentage of Jews in municipal, state and federal positions. Our young people must,” he declared, “in larger numbers, seek opportunities in public jobs and, unless we establish their availability as well as the fitness of Jewish applicants for them, we may face great difficulties in assuring economic security for large numbers in our midst.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
